The head of the body that awards the Rhodes scholarship – the oldest and most prestigious international graduate award – has refused to back calls for the removal of controversial monuments to its original benefactor, Cecil Rhodes, despite insisting the organisation was “in listening mode”.
Dr Elizabeth Kiss, the chief executive of the Rhodes Trust, was speaking after the organisation announced a series of exhibitions designed to explore the legacy of the 19th-century colonialist.
But she said recommendations made to an Oxford college in 2021 that a statue of Rhodes be removed, among other reparative measures, were not a matter for her organisation, which preferred to focus on its own “soul-searching” effort, and internal changes it could make.
“It would be presumptuous of us, I think, to weigh in on that. We’re responding to our own community, and recommendations from our own advisory groups. That is what I think our responsibility is,” Kiss told the Guardian.
Calls to remove monuments to Rhodes from the University of Oxford, where Oriel College hosts a statue in his honour – started in earnest in 2016, after similar protest movements in South Africa.
In 2021, an independent commission set up by the college recommended the statue’s removal, as well as that of a plaque elsewhere in the city, and other measures. But the college decided to keep the statue and instead installed an explanatory plaque describing Rhodes as a “committed British colonialist” who “obtained his fortune through exploitation of minerals, land and peoples of southern Africa”.
“Some of his activities led to great loss of life and attracted criticism in his day and ever since,” it reads.
Shaista Aziz, who sat on the commission and serves as a councillor in Oxford, told the Guardian the Rhodes Trust, which is separate to the college, should work towards seeing all the commission’s recommendations implemented.
Those included steps to tackle racial and class-based inequality in Oxford, running a mentoring project for young working-class people and people of colour, and expanding the Rhodes scholarships to increase their racial and ethnic diversity, she said.
Kiss pointed to the trust’s efforts in hosting three art installations in the coming weeks as part of an effort to “help us, and the wider community, reflect upon, and grapple with, the trust’s legacy”. This was part of a period of “soul-searching” prompted by the increased awareness of, and anger over, Rhodes’ legacy in recent years.
They include a photography exhibition titled Cecil John Rhodes: Hero, Villain, Ruthless Exploiter or Unjustly Accused? by Shadreck Chirikure, an Oxford professor of archaeology. The trust plans to hold an exhibition exploring the life, identity and achievements of 10 Rhodes scholars and fellows, while it is also hosting sculptures from the World Reimagined project that focus on the history and legacy of the transatlantic slave trade.
Kiss said the organisation had increased the number of scholars it would support each year from 100 to 125 – including increasing the number from African nations to 32. She added that, if it could raise the money, the organisation had an ambition to create a new scholarship for people from Pacific nations that had been part of the British empire.
She said the trust had become more conscious of the need to “create space” for scholars from parts of the world affected by British colonialism. And, since that history could stir up powerful emotions, it was important for organisations such as hers to be “open to having those tough conversations – not to get defensive”. She said the trust had taken practical steps to make cohorts more representative of the populations from which they came.
Aziz said the trust was taking positive and meaningful steps, but should have moved faster and gone further. “Really, by now, the ‘soul-searching’ should have moved on quite significantly,” she said.
“You cannot move on in terms of actions unless you think and reflect and process the legacy, the history of Cecil Rhodes and everything he stood for – and the ongoing ramifications. And we need some action now. We need we need to see some proper solid action in place.”
